on distance is a volume of photographs by Heinz Peter Knes representing a small selection from his extensive archive of travel photography dating back to 2010. Unlike a conventional approach to a personal travel log the photos and their ordering reflect upon broader cultural themes driven by personal interests, desires, and chance. Knes, in conversation with Julie Ault, ordered the images according to subjective and associative categories influenced by Warburg’s “law of the good neighbor”, Warburg’s principal of library organization based on the exchange and mutual engagement between books placed next to each other, rather than classical groupings such as “fine art” or “photography.” on distance opens up a similar research into the possible languages that emerge within images. ↑ ↓ ↓

In 1986, four double-stelae were erected in Berlin as a part of the Marx-Engels-Forum, which display 144 photographs, showing the development of the working class. Commissioned by the state, filmmaker Peter Voigt and photographer Arno Fischer developed a formal translation for Marx’s and Engel’s philosophy of history. In line with their documentational focus, the two artists were concerned with demonstrating the historical situation of the international working class, its grief, and its overcoming. The photographs, compiled from archives worldwide, constitute the foundation of the project. The chosen motifs respond to historical events as well as figures, depict everyday life and illustrate “circumstances”. ↑ ↓ ↓